Mike Dean joins from Videology

Dean joins the Disney-owned network from ad tech firm Videology, where he was vp, media platform sales and solutions. Before Videology, Dean served as director, publisher services at Vibrant Media and business development manager – Bing for Microsoft.

"Mike has a wealth of experience in digital and new media sales," said Pooja Midha, senior vice president of digital ad sales, in a statement. "We are very happy that he will lead the ABC sales team as we continue to lead the way in finding innovative solutions for all of our clients."

The move comes following ABC's announcment at its upfront in May that it will be teaming up with video ad firm FreeWheel in launching a programmatic video effort. That move was seen largely as a reaction to Comcast's purchase of FreeWheel, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, caused media executives to voice "concerns privately that Comcast…is gaining too much clout in the growing digital TV business."